Stokes : I was protecting myself

The Ben Stokes dismissal in the 2nd ODI between England and Australia has been the talk of the town among cricket fans. The Englishman was given out for obstructing the field, becoming the first Englishman to be dismissed in this manner and 6th batsmen in ODI history.

But Stokes himself has issued a statement in his defence claiming that all he did was to protect himself from the oncoming throw. Stokes believes that his reaction to glove away the throw from Aussie pacer Mitchell Starc was purely down to protective instincts.

“A guy was standing there five feet away from me and it was just a complete reaction,” Stokes told ESPNcricinfo.

“I didn’t put my hand there willfully, it was purely out of human reaction to protect myself. But the decision was made, there’s nothing I can do but it wasn’t willful whatsoever.”

A host of experts have criticised the decision made by third umpire Joel Wilson. The decision was made after on-field umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Tim Robinson admitted to English captain Eoin Morgan that they initially believed that Stokes was not out.

The whole incident has caused widespread anger among the English fans, both at the stadium and elsewhere. The rest of the match was played under a constant booing from the stands. But the victim in the situation Ben Stokes himself believes that the reaction might have blown out of proportion.

While talking at a Chance to Shine Street Cricket event in Birmingham, Stokes said, “The crowd maybe got a bit out of control, there was a lot of booing going on with the incident. It’s one of those decisions where you can’t look back and have any regrets because it’s been made, you can’t change what’s happened it’s just a shame it came to the uproar it has.

“It probably took away from the fact that we haven’t actually played very good cricket in the first couple of games which is the biggest thing for us so we just have to put it behind us.”

Despite the booing, Australia went on to win the match comfortably and take a 2-0 lead in the 5 match series. This may be a wake up call for the rule-makers in cricket to revise the laws regarding Obstruction of Field and give it a better definition.

(Photo Credits : Indian Express)